Wheel balancing tool



a 1955 R. D. TAYLOR ETAL 2,698,537

WHEEL BALANCING TOOL Filed March 10, 1953 28 27 I 5 28 29 INVENTOR.

I ROBERT D. TAYLOR 29 Q 23 VILMER E OKERSTROM 26 ATTORNEY United States Patent WHEEL BALANCING TOOL Robert D. Taylor and Vilmer E. Okerstrom, Salem, ()reg.; said Okerstrom assignor to said Taylor Application March 10, 1953, Serial No. 341,392

3 Claims. (Cl. 73--66) Our invention relates to wheel balancing tools, which is particularly adapted to the balancing of wheels having hubs therein, and also for disk wheels wherein the wheels have been removed from the drums.

The primary object of our invention is to provide expandible jaws to be applied to disks of wheels for supporting the same. while being balanced by the pen dulum balancing principle.

Another object of our invention is the designing of a special pendulum assembly, insuring greater accuracy of the balancing of wheels.

A further object of our invention is the provision of an indicator for indicating when the wheel is balanced. This indicator consists of a disk associated with the tool that is easily observed when the same aligns itself with the vertical axis of the tool.

These and other incidental objects will be apparent in the drawings, specification and claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of our new and improved wheel balanc r. having our new and improved expandable jaw assembly for supporting the disk of the wheel, parts are broken away for convenience of illustration.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken through the indicator mechanism on line 22 of Figure 4.

Figure 2A is an enlarged sectional view, taken on line 2A2A of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view, taken on line 33 of Figure 2A.

Figure 4 is a plan view, taken on line 44 of Figure 2, parts broken away for convenience of illustration.

Figure 5 illustrates the adaptation of cones for applying the same to wheels having hubs therein.

Figure 6 is an inverted sectional view, taken on line 66 of Figure 1.

Referring more specifically to the drawings:

Our new and improved wheel balancer consists of a hollow threaded stem 1. Running within and longitudinally of the stem 1 is a pendulum rod 2. The pendulum rod 2 supports the stem 1 in the following manner: A sleeve 3 is pressed in from the bottom of the stem 1. coming up against a shoulder 4 within the stem. A horizontal centering pin 5 bridges the sleeve 3 being held within the sleeve within the openings 6 and 7. The opening 7 is formed square so as to prevent the pin from rotating, as best illustrated in Figure 2A. The sleeve is locked in place by the set screw 3A.

An enlarged head 8 is threaded to the bottom end of the pendulum rod 2, or otherwise secured thereto. A transverse opening 9 passes through this head providing clearance surrounding the centering pin 5, permitting the head to oscillate about the said centering pin. The enlarged head 8 could be an integral part of the rod 2.

A screw 10 is threaded into the lower end of the enlarged head 8, having its inner end formed into a point 11. The point 11 is adapted to enter a cone shaped hole 12 formed on the lower side of the centering pin 5, thereby centering the pendulum in regards to the stem 1 by permitting free movement of the stem in regards to the pendulum.

Located on the upper end of the stem 1 is an enlarged head 13. Spaced above this head is a cap or disk 14. The spacing of this cap is maintained at a predetermined spacing by the spacers 15, the said cap being held to the head 13 by the cap screws 16. A disk 17 loosely embraces the pendulum stem 2 by way of the opening 18 through the same.

Enlarged openings 19 permit the movement of the disk when the pendulum rod 2 moves from one side to the other within the stem 1, the disk indicating the position of the pendulum. Figures 2 and 4 illustrate the pendulum in offset position, the disk 17 indicating to the operator of this fact.

Referring to Figure l, in order to balance disk wheels we have provided a special expanding assembly of lifting jaws, consisting of a collar 20 loosely sliding up and down on the stem 1 by way of the opening 21 and pivotally supporting a plurality of suspended jaws or arms 26. A cam 22 is slidably mounted to the stem also, the elevation of which is adjusted by the threaded nut 23. The

cam is adjusted reiative to its position on the stem 1 so as to locate the universal assembly 24 of the pendulum slightly above the center of gravity of the wheel indicated by the line 25 when the jaws are expanded as shown. By locating the universal assembly 24 above the center of gravity of the wheel, the pendulum mechanism within the stem 1 will operate satisfactorily.

Notches 27 are provided to position the universal assembly 24 in the desired position, depending upon the diameter of the hole 28 within the disk of the wheel 29. The upper ends of the jaws 26 are pivotally mounted within the collar 20 by way of the pivot pins 30, as best indicated in Figures 1 and 6.

When our balancing tool is being used to balance wheels with hubs as indicated in Figure 5, the cones 31 are slidably placed on the stem 1 and the nut 32 is then adjusted to place the universal assembly 24 at the proper location in regards to the center of gravity of the wheel. The nut 33 tightens the assembly so that it will be centered. This feature is not new in operation, but we expect to combine our principle of the jaw assembly unit with this principle so that both the wheels with hubs can be taken care of, as well as the disk wheels, for which we have invented the expanding jaw assembly to accommodate.

We will now describe the operation of our new and improved wheel balancer. By supporting the weight of the tool on the point 11 of the screw 10 in the socket 12 of the centering pin 5, we obtain a very accurate and sensitive balance between the pendulum rod 2 and the stem 1 of the tool. The collar 20 is raised so that the jaws 26 are moved towards one another, then they are inserted within the hole 28 of the disk of the wheel 29, after which the nut 23 is adjusted so that it will position the stem 1 with the universal unit 24 of the pendulum slightly above the center of gravity indicated by the line 25 of the wheel.

When the collar 20 is lowered, the cam 22 will expand the jaws so that one of the selected notches 27 will engage the rim of the hole 28 as shown in Figure 1. The weight of the wheel and the pressure of the cam 22 will cause the jaws to support the same. If the wheel is out of balance, the pendulum 2 will take a position as shown in Figures 2 and 4, the disk 17 indicating that the wheel is off balance.

When the wheel is balanced by the proper procedure, the disk 17 will be centered and coincident with the flange 13 and cap 14, which will indicate the wheel is balanced.

What is claimed is:

l. A wheel balancing tool comprising a pendulum, means on the upper end of said pendulum for suspending the same, a tube having an internal diameter greater than the diameter of said pendulum and loosely surrounding the same, a universal support on the lower end of said pendulum and secured within said tube below the upper end thereof, said universal support comprising a pin transversely mounted rigidly in said tube and having a conical socket centrally in its underside, said pendulum having a bore transversely in its lower end portion and loosely surrounding said pin, and a pointed member extending above the bottom of said bore and axially of said pendulum with the point thereof seating in said socket and supporting said pin and tube, means on said tube below said universal support for supporting a wheel substantially concentrically of and in a plane perpendicular to said tube, whereby the wheel and said tube are suspended from said universal support and said tube is moved angularly relative to said pendulum by any unbalanced condition of the wheel, an outwardly extending flange on the upper end of said tube, and an indicator plate on said pendulum and overlying said flange, said plate and flange having uniform peripheries to be coincident when the wheel is balanced and relatively offset when the tube is displaced angularly by an unbalanced wheel.

2. A wheel balancing tool as defined in claim 1 wherein said wheel supporting means comprises a collar on said tube, a plurality of arms pivotally mounted in spaced relation around said collar and suspended therefrom, said arms having means for engaging and supporting the internal rim of a wheel, and a cam member adjustable along said tube below said universal support and engaging the inner sides or" said arms to cam said arms to engage said means with the internal rim and support the wheel.

3. A wheel balancing tool comprising a pendulum, means on the upper end of said pendulum for suspending the same, a tube having an externally threaded portion and an internal diameter greater than the diameter of said pendulum and loosely surrounding the same, a universal support on the lower end of said pendulum and secured within said tube below the upper end thereof, means on said tube for supporting a wheel substantially concentrically of and in a plane perpendicular to said tube, whereby the wheel and said tube are suspended from said universal support and said tube is moved angularly relative to said pendulum by any unbalanced condition of the wheel, said wheel supporting means including a collar on said tube, a plurality of arms pivotally mounted in spaced relation around said collar and suspended therefrom, each of said arms having a plurality of means spaced longitudinally thereof for selectively engaging the internal rim of a wheel and supporting said wheel substantially horizontally, and means threaded on and adjustable along said tube below said universal support and including a disc peripherally engaging the inner sides of said arms to cam said arms to selected angular positions for selectively engaging said supporting means with the internal rim and support the wheel in a horizontal position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,194,936 Hatch Mar. 26, 1940 2,471,642 Moltz May 31, 1949 2,478,477 Graves Aug. 9, 1949 2,512,231 Hart June 20, 1950 

